Railway Track & Structures - October 2007 - (Page 3)

ON TRACK Vol. 103, No. 10 USPS # 860-560 ISSN # 00339016 EDITORIAL OFFICES 20 South Clark Street, Suite 2450 Chicago, Ill. 60603 Telephone (312) 683-0130 Fax (312) 683-0131 Website www.rtands.com M/W and nature George S. Sokulski/Associate Publisher Tom Judge/Editor, tjudge@sbpubchicago.com Wanda Welty/Managing Editor Mischa Wanek-Libman/Assistant Editor, mischa@sbpub-chicago.com Susan Taylor/Editorial Assistant I CORPORATE OFFICES 345 Hudson Street New York, N.Y. 10014 Telephone (212) 620-7200 Fax (212) 633-1165 Arthur J. McGinnis, Jr./ President and Chairman Robert P. DeMarco/Publisher Mary Conyers-Brown/Production Director Barbara DiGirolamo/Production Manager Maureen Cooney/Circulation Director Jane Poterala/Conference Director Robert G. Lewis/Director of Special Projects For reprint information, contact: PARS International Corp. 212-221-9595; Fax 212-221-9195 RT&S, Railway Track and Structures is published monthly by Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corp., 345 Hudson Street, New York, N.Y. 10014. ISSN: 0033-8916. Canada Post Cust.#7204564; Agreement #41094515. Bleuchip Int'l, PO Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2. Periodical Class postage paid at New York, N.Y., and additional mailing offices. Subscription price to railroad employees only in U.S. possessions, Canada and Mexico, Print or Digital version: $16 one year; $30 two years (all others $39.50 one year; $73 two years). All other countries, $68 one year ($168 for air mail); $120 two years ($320 for air mail). Both Print and Digital versions: $24 one year; $45 two years (all others $60 one year; $110 two years). All other countries, $102 one year ($202 for air mail); $180 two years ($380 for air mail). Single copies $8.50. Track Buyer’s Guide $21. All rates are payable in advance. The publisher reserves the right to increase subscription rates without notice. Call toll-free 1-800-895-4389 (or 402-346-4740) Mon.-Fri., 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Central Time to place an order. Copyright 2007. Customer Service: Address all correspondence to: Subscription Department, RT&S, P.O. Box 10, Omaha, NE 68101-0010. Changes of address should reach us three weeks in advance of the next issue date. Send old address with new, enclosing, if possible, your address label. The Post Office will not forward copies unless you provide extra postage. Duplicate copies cannot be sent. POSTMASTER: Send change of address forms to RT&S, Railway Track and Structures, P.O. Box 10, Omaha, NE 68101-0010. n late August, the Chicago Metro Area was clobbered by a storm that featured sideways rain driven by winds gusting to 75 mph. All over the Midwest, massive rains swelled streams and rivers until they went on a rampage, destroying everything in their path, including railroad rights-ofway, railroad bridges and much more. You may have seen a widelydistributed news photo of a house jarred off its foundation that was sitting on a stretch of badly washed out DM&E track around Stockton, Minn. That event took place during the stretch of storms I’ve described. Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich wrote a piece a few days after the storm about how it’s so human to take nature for granted until Mother Nature throws one of her tantrums, as she’d just done in the Chicago area. I thought that this columnist had a point, but her point only goes so far. If there’s any group of human beings on this planet that fails to take nature for granted, it’s m/w people. They’re the ones who are out there enduring the worst of what Meteora has to throw at us, from blistering heat to bone-chilling cold, from hot and muggy to cold and wet. They endure the bug bites and dodge the critters, including many not-so-friendly ones with a bite that can kill you. And when the rampages of high winds and devastating floods have barely ended, they’re the ones who wade in, sometimes literally, and clean up the mess. They’re the ones who put the track back in place after washouts. They’re the ones who repair the bridges and restore them to service. They’re the ones who stand wearily beside the tracks as the first trains roll across track they’ve just endured the wrath of nature to put back in service. As I write this, we’ve just marked the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s ghastly visit to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. I’m sure I don’t have to remind anyone of that horrific example of what Mother Nature can do when she gets really, really riled up. The railroads were hit at least as hard as any other organization, and harder than many. But who was the first to restore service to bring in desperately needed supplies? It was the railroads. Thanks to planning, skill, a bit of luck and a ton of hard work, the railroads got the trains rolling while many others stood around and wondered what to do first. And the railroads did it without a dime of taxpayers’ money. Too often, m/w people sweat and strain to get a job done, only to see a flood or a windstorm undo all the work they’ve just completed. Without taking time to complain, they simply go back and rebuild once again. From floods to blizzards and back again, m/w people stand up to the worst that nature can dish out, then go out and do what needs to be done to get trains rolling again. And they do it year-in and year-out, season after season. So, I agree with columnist Mary Schmich that some people tend to take nature for granted. But not m/w people. Tom Judge, Editor A SIMMONS-BOARDMAN RAIL GROUP PUBLICATION www.rtands.com Railway Track & Structures October 2007 3 http://www.rtands.com http://www.rtands.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Railway Track & Structures - October 2007

Railway Track & Structures - October 2007 Contents On Track Industry Today Supplier News AREMA News NRC News TTCI R&D Crossties by the Billions Provide Essentials for Full Support Modern Tools Manage Risk M/W Challenges: Better Management of Thermal Forces in CWR TTCI Celebrates 25 Years as Facility, 10 as Part of AAR Products and Literature People Calendar Sales Representatives Website Directory Advertisers Index Professional Directory Classified Advertising Chicago Perspective

Railway Track & Structures - October 2007

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